Dallas Entrepreneurs of the Year 2013: Brian Schultz

Looking at the movie theater industry, it’s hard to deny that Brian Schultz helped breathe new life into it when he founded Studio Movie Grill in 1999.

Beginning with the first location in Addison, the company now operates in five states, with more than 3,500 employees. It expects to serve about 7 million moviegoers this year.

Schultz sums up the key to Studio Movie Grill’s success in two words: fanatical execution. Every detail is crafted to ensure that guests have a consistently great experience every time they visit, including the menu, which is updated twice each year. “That focus on execution is the way we differentiate ourselves from the traditional theater and anyone who tries to copy us in the category,” Schultz says.

Studio Movie Grill is spreading its vision of the movie theater experience to Indianapolis and Columbus after the summer, in addition to preparing to move its office into a larger space to accommodate its ever-growing operations.

Beyond the the facts and figures, Schultz strives to maintain a company culture that prefers to measure its success by its impact on the community. The company helps Children’s Medical Center raise funds every year, and revitalizes neighborhoods by renovating theaters around the country, including the recently opened Studio Movie Grill at Spring Valley and North Central Expressway. The theater company is out to “change the world, one movie at a time,” Schultz says.—Sheila Dang